Fraudsters are increasingly taking advantage of the housing crisis to line their pockets, at a time when scams reported across the country are on the rise. In Quebec, tenants in several regions report a modus operandi similar which caused some to lose significant sums.
Julie Héon, a resident of Val-Bélair, Quebec City, learned in recent months that she had to move out of her low-rent apartment where she had lived for eight years because it was now deemed too big. for her needs by the Office municipal d’habitation de Québec, she told the To have to. The lady, who shares her accommodation with her daughter, a few relatives and a dog, then began to search social networks for a large accommodation that accepts animals.
In the context of the current rental market, where family housing at an affordable price is becoming increasingly rare throughout the province, Ms.me Héon were long and tedious. “It was very difficult,” recalls the tenant, who was afraid of not finding anything by 1er July.
The lady finally got wind, through an Internet user, of a house for rent for $1,300 per month in Val-Bélair “by her uncle”. This is where the scam begins.
The alleged owner of this residence being then in California, he informs by e-mail Mr.me Héon that it is his son who will take care of showing him around this house. However, to prevent the latter, who lives in Rimouski, from moving in vain, the alleged owner is asking for a deposit of one month’s rent as security in anticipation of the site visit. After a waltz-hesitation, Mme Héon agrees to make a bank transfer to whoever she then believes to be the owner of this house.
“I was in disarray, in trouble,” recalls Mme Héon, who was thus ready to take risks to find housing that met her needs.
The lady, however, begins to ask questions when the owner asks her to postpone the time of the site visit until the next day in addition to asking her for the deposit of a second month’s rent, which she refuses to give him. Julie Héon instead decides to go to said house, where she then learns from its real owner that it is not for rent, but for sale, through a real estate broker. Mme Héon filed a complaint with the Quebec City Police Service on April 12, which we were able to consult. However, she doubts that she will ever see the color of her money again.
“It’s not funny to laugh at the world in the same way, which is in disarray with COVID, in addition to the fact that we are short of money, that we cannot find apartments that accept animals. It’s inhuman,” laments M.me Héon, who finally found a sufficiently large accommodation in sublet in Loretteville.
“Attractive” advertisements
Tenants from several regions have also entrusted the To have to having witnessed this type of scam, which has a similar mechanism in common. An alleged landlord, who claims to be abroad or in another province, offers a place to rent at an attractive price and demands payment of one month’s rent in the form of a bank transfer before showing the premises by a close.
“These are really tempting ads,” says Vicky Nolet, who says she faced four fraud attempts in the space of a month in her search for housing in Saint-Jérôme. Fortunately, she managed to thwart these scams, which are taking shape all over the province.
“It is certain that there are people who have been taken in by these stories,” says Katy Pageau, who was looking for a house in the vicinity of Saint-André-de-Kamouraska, in Bas-Saint- Lawrence. Twice, she was approached by fraudsters who demanded one month’s rent by bank transfer before visiting their alleged accommodation. A Longueuil resident, Andrée Bertrand, also reported a similar scam to which her son almost succumbed. The accommodation, which was advertised cheaply in the city on the South Shore of Montreal, was not actually for rent, she found.
Paid frauds
The trend is also heavy: across the country, fraud cases related to accommodation and the total amount stolen have been on the rise for several years, according to data provided by the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. In 2017, the organization reported 293 victims of this type of fraud in the country, for a total amount lost of approximately $474,000. Last year, 509 victims together lost more than $862,000, or an average of more than $1,690 per person defrauded.
“It is a phenomenon that I see more and more, that I saw less before, and it is unfortunately due to the shortage of housing”, underlines a coordinator of the organization Action-Logement Lanaudière, Amélie Pelland, who received complaints from several tenants in recent months about potential scams. In an interview, she recalls the importance of never paying a month’s rent before having visited a dwelling in person and signed a lease.
However, “the tenants, the applicants for housing are so desperate, in particular households with children, that as soon as they find a good opportunity, they will lend themselves to these scams”, underlines the coordinator of the organization Logemen’occupy, in Gatineau, François Roy.
Fraudsters, he notes, are “taking advantage of the market” and the “distress of tenants” in this Outaouais city where the rental vacancy rate fell to 0.4% last year, according to the latest annual report of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
“The scammers take advantage of the distress of people”, summarizes Mme Pelland.